thout question asked or answered. They
sat close, like children in the dark, and shook each other with their
shaking. The dusk continued to fall; and there was no sound but the
beating of the surf and the occasional hiccup of a sob from Tommy
Hadden.

"God, if there was another ship!" cried Carthew of a sudden.

Wicks started and looked aloft with the trick of all seamen, and
shuddered as he saw the hanging figure on the royal yard.

"If I went aloft, I'd fall," he said simply. "I'm done up."

It was Amalu who volunteered, climbed to the very truck, swept the
fading horizon, and announced nothing within sight.

"No odds," said Wicks. "We can't sleep ..."

"Sleep!" echoed Carthew; and it seemed as if the whole of Shakespeare's
_Macbeth_ thundered at the gallop through his mind.

"Well, then, we can't sit and chitter here," said Wicks, "till we've
cleaned ship; and I can't turn to till I've had gin, and the gin's in
the cabin, and who's to fetch it?"

"I will," said Carthew, "if any one has matches."

Amalu passed him a box, and he went aft and down the companion and into
the cabin, stumbling upon bodies. Then he struck a match, and his looks
fell upon two living eyes.

"Well?" asked Mac, for it was he who still survived in that shambles of
a cabin.

"It's done; they're all dead," answered Carthew.

"Christ!" said the Irishman, and fainted.

The gin was found in the dead captain's cabin; it was brought on deck,
and all hands had a dram, and attacked their farther task. The night
was come, the moon would not be up for hours; a lamp was set on the main
hatch to light Amalu as he washed down decks; and the galley lantern
was taken to guide the others in their graveyard business. Holdorsen,
Hemstead, Trent, and Goddedaal were first disposed of, the last still
breathing as he went over the side; Wallen followed; and then Wicks,
steadied by the gin, went aloft with a boathook and succeeded in
dislodging Hardy. The Chinaman was their last task; he seemed to be
light-headed, talked aloud in his unknown language as they brought
him up, and it was only with the splash of his sinking body that the
gibberish ceased. Brown, by common consent, was left alone. Flesh and
blood could go no further.

All this time they had been drinking undiluted gin like water; three
bottles stood broached in different quarters; and none passed without
a gulp. Tommy collapsed against the mainmast; Wicks fell on his face
on the poop lad